eight different derivations are suggested, appears to mean "the great old laws,” or the great old decisions." The chief manuscripts of it which are known to exist are three in Trinity College, Dublin, and one in the Harleian collection in the British Museum, and the earliest of these is assigned to circa A.D. 1300. But quotations from the Senchus Mor are found in "Cormoe's Glossary," the greater part of which was probably composed in the ninth or tenth century, and the date of the original compilation is put by good judges, on various evidence, at A.D. 488 to 441. It is, in short, a codification and revision, under the direction of St. Patrick, of the judgments of the pagan Brehons. Three kings, three poets, and three Christian missionaries (of whom Patrick was one) were combined in this work, and the code then established remained the national law of Ireland for nearly twelve centuries. The pagan laws embodied in this revised code were in force during a period of unknown antiquity, prior to the introduction of Christianity to the island.

The Senchus Mor has been selected by the commissioners for early publication as being one of the oldest and one of the most important portions of the ancient laws of Ireland which have been preserved. It exhibits the remarkable modification which these laws of pagan origin underwent, in the fifth century, on the conversion of the Irish to Christianity. "This modification was ascribed so entirely to the influence of St. Patrick that the Senchus Mor is described as having been called in after times Cain Patraic,' or Patrick's law.

The Senchus Mor was so much revered, that the Irish judges, caled Brehons, were not authorized to abrogate anything contained in it.

The original text, of high antiquity, has been made the subject of glosses and commentaries of more recent date; and the Senchus Mor would appear to have maintained its authority among the native Irish until the be

ginning of the seventeenth century, or for a period of 1,200 years.

"The English law, introduced by King Henry the Second in the twelfth century, for many years scarcely pre vailed beyond the narrow Emits of the English pale (comprising the present counties of Louth, Meath, Westmeath, Kildare, Dublin, and Wicklow). Throughout the rest of Ireland the Brehons still administered their an clent laws amongst the native Irish, who were practically excluded from the privileges of the English law. The Anglo-Irish, too, adopted the Irish laws to such an extent that efforts were made to preven. their doing so by enactments first passed at the parliament of Kilkenny in the fortieth year of King Edward III. (1367), and subsequently renewed by Stat. Henry VII., c. 8, in 1495. So late as the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth years of the reign of King Henry VIII. (1534) George Cromer, archbishop of Armagh and primate of Ireland, obtained a formal pardon for having used the Brehon laws. In the reign of Queen Mary, 1554, the Earl of Kildare obtained an eric of 340 cows for the death of his foster-brother, Robert Nugent, under the Brehon law.

"The authority of the Brehon laws continued until the power of the Irish chieftains was finally broken in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and all the Irish were received into the king's im mediate protection by the proclama tion of James I. This proclamatic.. followed as it was by the complete division of Ireland into counties, and the administration of ae English laws throughout the entire country, terminated at once the necessity for, and the authority of, the ancient Irish laws

"The wars of Cromwell, the policy pursued by King Charles II. at the restoration, and the results of the r olution of 1688, prevented any revival of the Irish laws; and before the end of the sovente nth century the whole race of judges (Brebons) and professors (Oliamis) of tre Irish laws appears to have beecine extinct."

Portions of the text of the Senchus Mor, as we now have it, are held by Gaelic scholars to be in the language of the fifth century, in what was called the Berla Feini dialect; other portions translated from that ancient form into Gaelic of the thirteenth century. Various ancient Irish glosses and commentaries accompany the text, and also an introduction of high antiquity, giving an account of the origin of the Senchus Mor.

Patrick came to Erin to baptize and to disseminate religion among the Gaeidhili. e., in the ninth year of the reign of Theodosius, and in the fourth year of the reign of Laeghaire [pronounced Layorie or Layrie], son of Niall, king of Erin." The combination of the Roman pagan laws with Christian doctrine in the Theodosian code received imperial sanction in A.D. 438, and was at once adopted both in the eastern and western empires. St. Patrick, Dr. Hancock remarks, a Roman citizen, a native of a Roman province, and an eminent Christian missionary, would be certain to obtain early intelligence of the great reform of the laws of the empire and of the great triumph of the Christian church. Having now been six years in Erin, and established his influence there, he attempted successfully a similar reform in that remote island, and the composition of the Senchus Mor was accordingly commenced in that same year, 438, and completed in about four years.

In ancient Irish books the name of the place where they were composed is usually mentioned. The introduction to the Senchus Mor contains this information, but is very p.culiar in representing the book as having been composed at different places in different seasons of the year: It was Teamhair in the summer and in the autumn, on account of its cle inness and pleasantness during these seasons; and Rath-guthaird was the place during the winter and the spring, on account of the nearness of its fire-wood and water, and on ac

count of its warmth in the time of winter's cold.'

"Teamhair, now Tara, was, at the time the Senchus Mor was composed, the residence of King Laeghaire, the monarch of Erin, and of his chief poet Dubhthach Mac ua Lugair, who took such a leading part in the work.

"Teamhairceased to be the residence of the kings of Ireland after the death of King Dermot, in A.D. 565, about a century and a quarter after the Senchus Mor was composed. Remains are, after the lapse of nearly 1,400 years, to be still found, the most remarkable of their kind in Ireland, which attest the ancient importance of the place."

In the introduction a curious account is given of St. Patrick's manner of dealing with the existing "professors of the sciences," and his admission of the claim of inspiration on behalf of his pagan predecessors.

"Patrick requested of the men of Erin to come to one place to hold a conference with him. When they came to the conference the gospel of Christ was preached to them all; and when the men of Erin heard of the killing of the living and the resuscitation of the dead, and all the power of Patrick since his arrival in Erin, and when they saw Laeghairè with his Druids overcome by the great signs and miracles wrought in the presence of the men in Erin, they bowed down, in obedience to the will of God and Patrick.

It was

Then Laeghairè said: 'It is necessary for you, O men of Erin, that every other law should be settled and arranged by us, as well as this.' 'It is better to do so,' said Patrick. then that all the professors of the sciences in Erin were assembled and each of them exhibited his art before Patrick, in the presence of every chief in Erin.

"It was then that Dubhthach was ordered to exhibit the judgments and all the poetry of Erin, and every law which prevailed among the men of Erin, through the law of nature, and

the law of the seers, and in the judgments of the island of Erin, and in the poets.

"They had foretold that the bright word of blessing would come-i. e., the law of the letter; for it was the Holy Spirit that spoke and prophesied through the mouths of the just men who were formerly in the island of Erin, as he had prophesied through the mouths of the chief prophets and noble fathers in the patriarchal law; for the law of nature had prevailed where the written law did not reach.

"Now the judgments of true nature which the Holy Ghost had spoken through the mouths of the Brehons and just poets of the men of Erin, from the first occupation of this island down to the reception of the faith, were all exhibited by Dubhthach to Patrick. What did not clash with the Word of God in the written law and in the New Testament, and with the consciences of the believers, was confirmed in the laws of the Brehons by Patrick and by the ecclesiastics and the chieftains of Erin; for the law of nature had been quite right, except the faith and its obligations, and the harmony of the church and the people, And this

is the Senchus Mor.

"Nine persons were appointed to arrange this book-viz., Patrick, and Benen, and Cairnech, three bishops; Laeghaire, and Core, and Dairè, three kings; Rosa-i. e., Mac-Trechim, and Dubhthach-i. e., a doctor of the Bérla Feini, and Fergus-i. e., a poet. "Nofis, therefore, is the nanre of this book which they arranged-i. e., the knowledge of nine persons-and we have the proof of this above."

And in one of the ancient commentaries on the introduction we are told:

"Before the coming of Patrick there had been remarkable revelations. When the Brehons deviated from the truth of nature, there appeared blotches upon their cheeks; as first of all on the right cheek of Sen Mac Aige, whenever he pronounced a false judgment, but they disappeared

again when he had passed a true judgment, etc.

"Connla never passed a false judg ment, through the grace of the Holy Ghost, which was upon him.

"Sencha Mac Col Cluin was not wont to pass judgment until he had pondered upon it in his breast the night before.

When Fachtna, his son, had passed a false judgment, if, in the time of fruit, all the fruit of the territory in which it happened fell off in one night, etc.; if in time of milk, the cows refused their calves; but if he passed a true judgment the fruit was perfect on the trees; hence he received the name of Fachtna Tulbrethach.

"Sencha Mac Aililla never pronounced a false judgment without getting three permanent blotches on his face for each judgment. Fithel had the truth of nature, so that he pronounced no false judgment. Morann never pronounced a judgment without having a chain around his neck. When he pronounced a false judgment the chain tightened around his neck. If he passed a true one it expanded down upon him."

Core and Dairè were territorial chieftains, or minor kings. Laoghaire, son of Niall of the Nine Hostages, was monarch of Erin; his reign commenc ed A.D. 428, four years before the ar rival of Patrick, and ended with his life in 458, one year after the foundation of Armagh by that great Christian missionary. Laeghaire is usually called the first Christian king of Ireland, but it seems more likely from the evidence we have that he himself did not become a Christian, although he acknowledged the merit of S Patrick, and gave him permission to preach and baptize, on condition that the peace of the kingdom should not be disturbed. Travellers in our time, by mail-steamers from Holyhead and the Island of Druids, may some of them not know that Kingstown is a name given, but a few years ago, to "Danleary"-that is, the fortress of King Laeghairè, when George IV., by graciously landing there, supplanted the